


A Thousand and One Words

by Crowned_Ladybug



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Family, Fluff, Gen, Happy birthday to everyone's favourite glitch bitch, I will never not love writing him happy, Platonic Relationships, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-16 04:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12335082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowned_Ladybug/pseuds/Crowned_Ladybug
Summary: They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and Anti has a lot of them. He loves flipping through them, reliving memories and reminding himself that yes, he has a family, a family that loves him.





	A Thousand and One Words

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on Anti's birthday (yesterday) but only got to post it to here now. I really loved writing this fic, both because I love Anti being happy and because chosen family stuff is my weakness.
> 
> I have a bunch of things in my inbox (I am so humbled and happy, you guys are too nice!) but I don't think I'll have time to respond tonigh, I'm really sorry! Tomorrow, hopefully. I still gotta get used to coming on here more and generally juggling my time with uni...

Anti is sitting on the floor of Seán's recording room, alone. He loves how quiet it is when it's only him, the padded walls swallowing any unwanted noise. It's one of his few safe spaces in the world and as someone who gets sensory overloaded when he crosses worlds sometimes, he really values the peace. But now he's just hanging out, maybe a bit tired, sitting there because he enjoys the tranquillity and because the house around him feels like home.

He's flipping through his photo album.

He got it, almost empty save for a single picture, from Signe some time ago. The single picture in it, right on the first page was a photo of the three of them – Anti, Signe and Seán – taken during the first convention Anti had accompanied them to. The rest? Empty, with neat little slots for new photographs, up for Anti to fill.

Now, while not nearly full, it has many more pictures in it. Anti loves flipping through them, reminiscing, laughing at the funny ones and constantly being reminded that he has a place in the world and it's _right here_. Sometimes he looks through it with friends, sometimes alone, and this time it's the latter. He loves the memories.

One of the first pictures is a group photo of Chase, Dark, Bing and Oliver, taken by Anti himself. It was an impromptu pic, taken in their own dimension on a quiet afternoon. They have all just been hanging out, Dark reading, Anti cuddled under his arm and occasionally throwing in a word or two to the playful conversation between Chase, Bing and Oliver. A thought struck Anti, that it was so peaceful and nice and they were all just like family, and he just had to take a picture. Dark pretended (poorly) to be annoyed by it while Bing and Chase gave him big, goofy grins and Oliver leant over the back of the couch to make ears over their heads with his fingers. Later Anti decided to have the picture printed out and kept in the album as a reminder that big, special moments aren't the only ones worth making into memories.

There’s a photo Signe took back at the old house in Ireland, of Anti sitting in the middle of an empty room, surrounded by about a dozen boxes. It was a bittersweet day, one of the last ones Seán and Signe (and thus Anti) had spent in that house before officially moving out. They found themselves wandering the house, taking in the strange emptiness, but somehow what came out of it was a happy photo, Anti sitting on the ground and looking around with an excited grin on his face. Seán and Signe were going on a new adventure and he was going to go with them.

There's one of just Anti and Seán, hanging onto each other's shoulders and making funny faces at the camera. It was taken during a day they spent exploring Brighton a little after Seán and Signe had moved in. Anti was wearing a scarf and a beanie to pass better as human and him and Seán enthusiastically pretended to be brothers just for shits and giggles. Signe decided that the light-hearted stunt and the unbearable amount of dumb jokes called for a photo.

There’s a similar one, Anti and Seán striking goofy poses and making faces in front of a mirror, phone in Seán’s hand. They’re both wearing crop tops, Seán his Dream Daddy one and Anti a black one with “glitch bitch” written across the front. Looking back Anti really loved the picture and the feelings behind it – the laughter and jokes, the feeling of losing all seriousness and just how much he loves wearing that top. And so it wound up in his album.

There's a selfie Anti had decided to have printed out. It's him and Dark, cheeks pressed together, Anti wearing a big, toothy grin while Dark is smiling lightly. It's another one of those pics that have no special occasions behind them, Anti just felt cute, wanted to take a selfie and Dark butted in with some badly-veiled cheesy compliments, and had Anti insisted on keeping him in the picture.

There's another group photo a few pages over, one of Teamiplier, Dark, Seán and Anti, standing and crouching before a green screen. It was taken after they filmed the "Dark vs Anti" video for Mark's channel, successfully creating more bloopers than actual usable footage. Anti is crouched in front of a very dishevelled-looking Dark and next to a very joyful Amy, and just before he had turned his head to grin at the camera he had been having a competition with Kathryn on who could talk shit about Dark and Mark better.

There's one of just him, arms spread wide and body playfully leaning to the side, grin wide as ever. He's standing on a pier in the late-August sun, arms bare, bandages around his neck and form barely glitching. Behind him is the fountain in Geneva, way too tall to fit in the picture, casting rainbows in the sunlight. Dark was the one who took the picture, settling into playing tourist surprisingly easily and smiling softly at Anti as he ran as close to the fountain as he possibly could and came back with his hair sticking in his face from the water. They had jumped to Geneva together using their dimension crossing like usual. It was just one of the many places they had visited or are still planning to visit together. Anti remembers each and every trip fondly.

There's a polaroid that's the copy of the one hanging on the wall of Chase's living room amongst many others. It's Anti, sitting on a swing with Chase's son Grayson on his lap, both of them looking to the side, watching Bing skateboarding if Anti remembers correctly. The old-timey camera didn't pick up any of Anti's glitching and so he looks perfectly normal. He looks exactly like a happy uncle, hanging out with his nephew at the park, just having a good time spending the day with his family. He felt normal that day, too.

There's another selfie, of Anti, Seán and Chase. Anti has band-aids on his neck and Chase's snapback on his head, Seán is in full Anti make-up with a fake bleeding cut on his neck, plastic fangs and a black shirt, and Chase is wearing Seán's old favourite hat and an Overwatch hoodie. They thought it would be fun to pretend to be each other just for the sake of a few pictures and some good laughs. It was amazing. Anti smiles to himself remembering how ridiculous Seán is every time he tries to mimic his glitching and how Chase ran around screaming Seán's intro until Signe checked on them, laughing at the sight.

There's another photo that's a little similar in nature, of Seán dressed as Anti and Mark dressed as Dark. It's hilarious knowing the height difference between Mark and Dark, and how generally very different all four of them really look. But Mark pranced around in his suit proudly nonetheless, exclaiming "Who wore it better? Me, of course, you VHS bitch!" when someone suggested Dark being more handsome than him. They had been filming skits together, Seán and Mark, because they still do about half the shots and voices for their egos when it comes to possibly glitching up footage beyond repair, and Anti was part of the immediate audience, struggling to hold his giggling back at pretty much anything they did.

There's one of Seán and all his egos known at the time. It's a rare occurrence, getting all of them to be in the same place at the same time, and they all had an absolute field day together. They all stood together in one clump, a dozen different shades of blue eyes smiling at the camera and everyone's hair a different shade of green somehow. Anti remembers Marvin almost falling from trying so hard to stand on his tiptoes to appear taller next to Jackie and Jackie watching him with concern, and Henrik bursting out laughing when he saw Chase and Seán giving each other bunny ears without realising that the other was doing the same.

There's a picture that's one of those very stereotypical family ones, they're even sitting on and around a couch and used a timer on the camera to take it. And Anti loves it. It's the newest addition to his album, taken a few days ago on his birthday. He's right in the middle, sitting on the couch with a wide smile, cheeks pink and tears of joy almost visible in his eyes. Dark is on his right, arm hooked around his waist while Anti is holding him close by the shoulders, and Seán is on his left, one arm wrapped around Anti's shoulders and the other around Signe. Chase is right behind Anti, standing against the couch with his arms draped over the back of it, and of course Bing is right next to him. There's so many more of them. There's Marvin, laughing with his arm wound loosely around Jackie's neck and Jackie laughing too, eyes just barely open to squint at the camera. Host is standing above Dark, a warm smile on his lips, and Wilford is sitting on the floor at Dark's feet, throwing a peace sign at the camera. Chase's kids are sitting on the floor too, Sammy holding Grayson to her side and her smile is exactly like her dad's. And there's Henrik sitting a little clumsily on one of the armrests and Anti remembers that Google had to steady him by the shoulders a couple of times before he found his balance. The other armrest is occupied by Amy, usual wide smile on her face, and Mark is standing right beside her, grinning like an absolute goof and striking a dumb pose after setting off the timer and having just ran back into the picture. It's a long haul, a lot of people, and there's even more who couldn't make it to his birthday.

Anti sniffles, smiling and wiping clumsily at his eyes with the back of his hand. It's a cheesy family picture, because he's cheesy and that's his family. Because he has a family.

He's shaken from his reminiscing by a knock on the door. "Hey dude, you in there?"

It's Seán and Anti smiles at the fact that he knocked coming into his own recording room in his own house, just because he knew Anti could be in there.

"Yeah, what's up?"

Seán enters curiously and he sees Anti sitting on the floor, photo album on his lap and he immediately suspects what’s up. Especially so when he notices the drying tears on Anti’s cheeks that he had failed to wipe away. He walks over and sits down comfortably, knowing Anti won't mind his presence.

"You good?" Seán asks, eyes searching his friend's face for any evidence that those tears are from a bad cause.

"Yeah," Anti chuckles, because he's got a lot of nice feelings bubbling in his chest already and Seán's concern only adds to it.

Seán hums in understanding and looks down at the album. His smile widens into a proper grin when he sees where it's opened. "Nice pic, dude."

"Yeah, I..." Anti lets out a small laugh. "I really like it too."

"A perfect, cheesy as fuck family photo."

"Of a perfect, cheesy as fuck family," Anti jokes and Seán wraps an arm around his shoulder.

"I don't know about perfect, but..." he shrugs. "I do think we're up there, if you know what I mean."

Anti laughs again, but his voice is quiet when he speaks. "I don't care if it isn't perfect. It's _mine_. It's the best family."

Grinning, Seán squeezes him against his side and Anti almost loses his balance from the sheer force of it. "Of course it's yours, man."

It's such a small, dumb thing that shouldn't even need to be said, but both of them know how much comfort it gives Anti. Having a family, a home to return to, people who love him and care about him, that's all something that Anti never thought could be his and yet it _is_.

Because just two days ago they had gathered in Seán and Signe's house to celebrate his birthday, Chase ruffled his hair saying Anti will forever be his little brother and Marvin lit the candles with magical, colourful fire. Because a week ago he had gone out to get ice cream with Dark and their niece and nephew. Because it's already been two weeks since his last trip with Dark, they've both been too busy and now they're intensively planning the next one, because it's tradition, it's their thing and they both need it to continue. Because a couple months ago Signe had given him a box to keep his belongings in if he wants to and placed it in her and Seán's closet, and they drew things on the side of it together. Because that box holds so many memories now and Anti keeps filling it with more and more.

And because tonight he will be falling asleep in the guest room of Seán and Signe's house after they talk and laugh and play video games until one of them starts nodding off. Because sometime during the week he's finally going to Vienna with Dark to see the Schönbrunn Palace and the treasury and just walk around the streets listening to Dark talk about history and sit down for a coffee and maybe some cake somewhere. Because he doesn't know how Christmas and New Year's will go but he knows he will be spending both with his family.

Because he has a family, they've been there ever since he's met them and he's finally starting to really believe that they will stay, too.


End file.
